How can educational consultants foster a growth mindset and resilience in gifted students?

Gifted students often face unique challenges and opportunities in their academic and personal development. As an educational consultant, you can help them cultivate a growth mindset and resilience, two key factors for success and well-being. In this article, you will learn what these concepts mean, why they matter, and how to foster them in your gifted clients.

1 What is a growth mindset?

A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence, skills, and talents are not fixed, but can be improved with effort, feedback, and learning. People with a growth mindset embrace challenges, see failures as opportunities, and seek new experiences. A growth mindset can boost motivation, confidence, and achievement in gifted students, who may otherwise avoid risks, doubt themselves, or underperform.

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Chantelle Onyenanu

Educational Consultant and Coach
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A growth mindset can boost motivation, confidence, and achievement NOT just in gifted students, but all students. Putting the emphasis on the effort a student is showing, and rewarding their process rather than their outcome - will help them develop a growth mindset and improve their resilience for problem solving.

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Dr. Susan Bates Hill

Certification Specialist Meeting Street Academy Spartanburg, South Carolina
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Being a reflective learner is a precursor to developing a growth mindset. Each person, not just students identified as gifted and talented, must realize their strengths and opportunities for growth. Students identified as gifted and talented may have perfectionist tendencies ( remember social/ emotional needs), and they may need extra support through the reflection piece. Journaling can be helpful.

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Summer Whitley

Making Impact | Creating Change | Giving Voice
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- Belief in improving intelligence and skills - Embrace challenges and see failures as opportunities - Boosts motivation, confidence, and achievement - Encourages seeking new experiences and continuous learning This was especially important when working with high performing athletes, that can struggle with perfectionism. Over time, this helps students embrace challenges, learn from failures, and significantly boosts confidence and academic performance.

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2 What is resilience?

Resilience is the ability to cope with stress, adversity, and change. It involves having positive emotions, strong relationships, and effective strategies to deal with difficulties. Resilience can protect gifted students from burnout, anxiety, and depression, which are common among this population. It can also help them adapt to different environments, cope with setbacks, and pursue their goals.

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Summer Whitley

Making Impact | Creating Change | Giving Voice
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When high performing students are facing significant personal challenges, fostering resilience through supportive relationships and coping strategies is key. They learn to manage stress and adapt to change. Resiliency then enables students to thrive academically and personally, even during tough times. Keys to Resiliency: - Ability to cope with stress, adversity, and change - Involves positive emotions, strong relationships, and effective strategies - Protects against burnout, anxiety, and depression - Helps adapt, cope with setbacks, and pursue goals

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3 How to assess growth mindset and resilience

Before you can foster a growth mindset and resilience in your gifted clients, you need to understand their current level of these attributes. You can use various tools and methods to assess them, such as surveys, interviews, observations, or portfolios. Some examples of assessment tools are the Mindset Assessment Profile (MAP), the Resilience Scale for Children and Adolescents (RSCA), or the Student Strengths Inventory (SSI).

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Summer Whitley

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Consider using the Mindset Assessment Profile (MAP). By tailoring strategies to their specific needs, we cultivate stronger growth mindsets and improve student's overall resilience.

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4 How to promote a growth mindset

One of the most effective ways to promote a growth mindset in gifted students is to provide them with constructive feedback. You can do this by praising their effort, process, and strategies, rather than their ability or outcome. You can also help them set realistic and challenging goals, monitor their progress, and celebrate their achievements. Moreover, you can expose them to diverse role models, mentors, and peers who demonstrate a growth mindset.

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Summer Whitley

Making Impact | Creating Change | Giving Voice
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How to build Growth Mindset: - Use surveys, interviews, observations, or portfolios - Tools: Resilience Scale for Children and Adolescents (RSCA), Student Strengths Inventory (SSI) - Understand current levels of growth mindset and resilience - Tailor interventions accordingly I am a huge fan of personal assessment strategies. Self awareness and understanding allows support systems to then create a personalized plans, empowering students to overcome challenges and excel academically.

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5 How to enhance resilience

To enhance resilience in gifted students, you can help them develop positive emotions, such as gratitude, optimism, and humor. You can also encourage them to build supportive relationships with family, friends, teachers, and mentors. Additionally, you can teach them coping skills, such as self-care, problem-solving, mindfulness, and relaxation. Furthermore, you can provide them with opportunities to explore their interests, passions, and strengths.

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Pete Sides

Educational Consultant at Capacitarpais
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Re-assessing what is success in the minds of the learner. Resilience to pursue study is success, learning from mistakes and seeing these as opportunity for development rather than failure. In my experience students see success as achievement rather than experience, often caused by well meaning parents but as a result can too easily become discouraged

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Summer Whitley

Making Impact | Creating Change | Giving Voice
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During my time working in higher ed, I witnessed many high performing students, thrive after implementing a resilience plan. By fostering optimism, encouraging strong mentor relationships, and teaching mindfulness techniques, students can develop the resilience needed to navigate academic challenges and excel in their studies.

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6 How to evaluate the outcomes

Finally, you can evaluate the outcomes of your interventions by measuring the changes in your gifted clients' growth mindset and resilience over time. You can use the same tools and methods that you used for the assessment, or you can use alternative measures, such as academic performance, self-esteem, or satisfaction. You can also solicit feedback from your clients, their parents, or their teachers to assess their progress and satisfaction.

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Summer Whitley

Making Impact | Creating Change | Giving Voice
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After implementing growth mindset workshops, I reassessed students using the same tools and collected feedback from parents and teachers. The data showed significant improvements in resilience and academic performance. Hearing students describe their enhanced self-belief was the most gratifying part of the process, validating our approach.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Summer Whitley

Making Impact | Creating Change | Giving Voice
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As an educational consultant, I introduced a growth mindset program to a group of gifted students. By combining workshops with personalized resilience training, I saw students shift from fixed to growth-oriented thinking. Their newfound confidence and perseverance were evident in their improved grades and enthusiasm for challenges.

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How can educational consultants foster a growth mindset and resilience in gifted students?

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1 What is a growth mindset?

2 What is resilience?

3 How to assess growth mindset and resilience

4 How to promote a growth mindset

5 How to enhance resilience

6 How to evaluate the outcomes

7 Here’s what else to consider

Educational Consulting

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